Door.



W. O. THOR?.

DOOR;

APPLICATION FILED IAN. 6. 1915.

Lgau Patented Jan. 25, 1916.

A TTOR/VEVS to slide in bearing lugs 11 on the lever,

WILLIAM OSCAR THOR?, OF BRAINERDMINNESOTA.

DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented dano 25, 12106.

I Application filed January 6, 1915. Serial No. 733.

To all whom t may concern Beit known that I, WILLIAM O. THoRr, a citizenof the United States, and a resident of Brainerd, in the county of CrowwWing and State of Minnesota, have made certain new and usefulImprovements in Doors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement in doors, and has for its object toprovide a door especially adapted for use as a grain door in freightcars, wherein the door is sectional, and the sections are movable withrespect to each other to provide for various widths of door openings,`and wherein each section has means at its outer end for engaging thesides ofthe door opening to prevent lateral movement of the door, andwherein means is provided for moving the sections and for holding themin adjusted position.

A further object is to provide mechanism for permitting a portion'of thecontents of the car to escape by way of the door opening, to relieve thepressure on 'thel door to permit the same to be opened.

ln the drawings: Figure 1 is a front view from the outside of theimproved door, Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the door, and Fig. 3 is asection on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrowsadjacent to the line.

ln the present embodiment of the invention the door is sectional, thesections beingformed of sheet metal of suitable weight and size, and thesections are mounted to slide' longitudinally with respect to eachother. rThe sections 1 and la of the door are lapped upon each other attheir inner ends, and at the outer end of each section a portion 2 or2ZL of the material of the door is oifset laterally, being connected tothe section by an integral web 3 or 3a as the case may be.

rlFhe upper and lower side edges of the section 1 of the door arebent'over upon the body of the door in spaced relation, as indicated at4 and4 5 respectively, lto form guideways for receiving the adjacentside edges of the section 1, and the said section 1a slides in theguideways. A lever 6 is pivoted to the outer face of the section 1 nearthe lower edge thereof, and at the lower end of the lever, as indicatedat 7,and the lever is provided with the usual latch lever 8, pivoted tothe upper end thereof, and connected by a link 9 with a latch 10 mountenormally pressed downward by a spring 12 arranged between the latch andone of the bearing lugs. The latch is adapted to engage one of a seriesof openings 13 in an arc-shaped or curved guard 14, the said guardhaving its ends offset and given a quarter turn, as shown at 15, and thesaid portions are superposed on the outer face of the body of thesection 1 and are secured thereto by rivets or bolts 16.

The lever moves between the guard and the door section, and a pair oflinks 17 are connected at one end to the lever intermediate its ends,and between the guard 11 and the pivotal connection 7 of the door. Thelinks are varranged on opposite sides of the lever, and at the other endthe body 18 of a yoke is received between the links, and is pivotedthereto, as indicated at 19.

The arms 2 0 of the yoke diverge from each other for some distance andthen extend parallel, as indicated at'21, and the parallel portions aresecured to the section 1a of the door near the end remote from the othersection 1. It will be evident from the description that when the lever 6is released from the guard and swung in the proper direction, thesections 1 and 1a will be moved longitudinally with respect to eachother to lengthen or shorten the door.

Doors of the character in question are as a rule connected to the carand are mounted to be lifted vertically into inoperative position, or toswing inwardly. Each car has its own doors, the doors being made'to fitthe car. The present door, however, can be made to fit door openings ofdifferent sizes, and the door is intended to be placed as shown in Figs.2 and 3, that is with the body of the door between the framing posts 22of the door opening and with the webs 3 and 3 engaging the adjacentfaces of the framing posts, and with the portions 2 and 2a 4fitting theinner .faces of the framing posts.

Since all of the stress upon the door is from within, the door would befirmly held by the manner of its engagement with the framing posts ofthedoorway. Additional means is provided, however, for securiig the doorin place, the said means comprising a pair of spurs or lugs at each endof the door and connected to each section. Each of the spurs or lugs 23is pointed, or sharpened, and each spur or lug has a Hattened or platelike portion 24 which is secured to the adjacent section of the door,The spurs or lugs are arranged near the top and the bottom of the door,one pair at each end as before stated, and the said spurs orlugs as willbe obvious, move with the sections. The spurs or lugs extend beyond thewebs 3 and 3a some little distance, as shown, and the spurs or lugsproper are designed to engage within the material of the framing post.

In use, before placing the door it is contracted, by swinging the levertoward the left of Fig. 1, andinto the position of Fig. 1. In thispositionthe door is at its shortest length, and with the parts soarranged, the door-is placed between the framing posts, with the ends ofthe offset portions 2 and 2a resting against the inner faces of theframing posts. The lever 6 is now released from the holding sector14,,and the said lever is swung to the right of Fig. 1, thus moving thesections longitudinally with re spect to each other and outwardly. Asthe sections move away from each other, the webs 3 and 3a will finallyContact with the adjacent faces of the framing posts, the pointed spursor lugs entering the material of the framing post to rigidly lock thedoor in position. The lever 6 is locked with the sections in adjustedposition and they lcannot become displaced until the lever is releasedfrom its holding mechanism.

When cars are loaded with material in bulk, as for instance grain, coalor other minerals, the pressure of the material against the grain doormakes it difficult to move the sections with respect to each other, orto move the door as a whole. In order to permit this pressure to bewholly or pan tially relieved before removing the door, the door section1 is provided with an opening 25 near its lower edge, and near thecenter of the door.

Guideways 26 are arranged horizontally above and below the door opening,the said guideways being parallel, and a door 27 is mounted in theguideways for movement over and away from over the door openings. Thedoor is provided at the side edge remote from the lever 6 with aperforated lug 28 and one end of a link 29 is pivoted to the lug. Theother end of the link is pivoted to a lever 30 intermediate the ends ofthe lever, and the lever is pivoted at its'upper end to the section 1 ofthe door, as'indicated at 31. The lower end of the lever is provideo`with a knob or handle 32 for convcnience in manipulating the lever, andit l will be evident that by swinging the lever in the proper directionthe door will be moved in its guideways to uncover the door opening 25.When the door is opened, the material is free to run out at the opening25, and a sufficient amount will pass out to relieve the pressure on thedoor proper to permit the sections to be moved toward each other and todisengage them from the framing posts.

The improved 'door may be quickly and easily replaced or removed, andwhen in place it is an absolute bar to the escape of anything. Neitheris it necessary to provide complicated supporting mechanism for thedoors. Since the door is of sheet metal, it will last indefinitely, andsince there are no complicated parts to get out of order the up-keepwill be small.

It will be noted that a slot or opening 33 is provided in the lever Gfor receiving a seal, to prevent or rather to indicate tampering withthe door by unauthorized persons.

It will be understood that the improved door may be connected with carsof different types, and since there is no permanent connection betweenthe door and the car, the

4doors may be used in different cars, that is,

they may be transferred from one car to a11- other. Neither is there anyspecial fitting required in the car, such as openings for the spurs 23.for the spurs are capable of making openings for themselves.

I claim: I

A freight car door adapted to be applied to the ordinary doorway of afreight car and composed of two metal plates sliding one upon the other,the upper and lower edges of one of the plates being bent over the likeedges of the other, whereby the plates are held together telescopically,each of said plates being provided at its outer end with an inwardlyoffset portion having an intermediate shoulder or flange to abut thedoorway wall and a rigid extension flange to lap Within the doorway,spurs on both of said plates near their upper and lower edges andprojecting beyond the Shoulder of the offset portions and adapted to beforced into the wall of the doorway, a lever pivoted to one of theplates. and means connecting said lever to the other plate, allsubstantially as and for the purpose set forth.

WILLIAM OSCAR THORI, fitnesses M. E. RYAN, D. A. PETERSON.

